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Introducing the fudgiest vegan chocolate banana bread! This 10-ingredient bread is rich, soft, and perfectly moist. It’s a real treat that your whole family will love! Enjoy for breakfast, as an afternoon pick-me-up, or as a decadent dessert!
⭐️ Why You Should Try This Recipe
- The perfect balance of chocolate and banana. It can be challenging to find the right harmony between chocolate and bananas. This vegan banana bread offers a rich chocolate flavor while still letting the banana flavor shine.
- Moist and fudgy. Say goodbye to dry or wet bread. This one has a fudgy texture without being too moist or too dry! It literally melts in your mouth!
- One bowl and 10 ingredients. This recipe couldn’t be easier. Combine 10 easy-to-find ingredients in a bowl, transfer to a baking pan, and bake. It’s a great recipe to make with kids as well!
🍫 Ingredient Notes
You will need the following ingredients:
- All-purpose flour – Regular flour works best in this recipe. You may use whole-wheat flour, but in that case, reduce the amount of flour to 3/4 cup.
- Banana – Preferably ripe and spotty bananas.
- Sugar – I went with granulated white sugar, but coconut sugar should also work.
- Oil – Use a neutral oil like canola, grapeseed, or sunflower.
- Cocoa powder – Use unsweetened cocoa powder. I went with Dutch-processed cocoa powder, but natural cocoa powder will work too.
- Baking powder and baking soda – Both help the bread rise.
- Dark chocolate – It took me several tries before finding the correct balance between chocolate and banana. Using only cocoa powder didn’t yield enough cacao richness, in my opinion. Hence, I ended up adding melted dark chocolate to the batter. Not only does it bring more chocolate flavor, but it also adds extra richness. You can use dark chocolate chips or vegan dark chocolate.
- Vanilla extract – For extra flavor, use high-quality vanilla extract or replace 1/4 cup of the sugar with vanilla sugar.
🥣 How To Make Chocolate Banana Bread
Make the batter
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a mixing bowl. Whisk until combined.
- Melt the chocolate. Over a double-boiler, melt the dark chocolate chips or chocolate chunks. To make a double boiler: place a sauce pan on the stove and fill it with about 1/2 cup of water. Next, place an aluminum or heat-proof glass bowl on top of the saucepan. The bowl should not touch the water and just sit on the edges of the saucepan. Finally, heat the water to a simmer over low-medium heat.
- Mash the bananas. While the chocolate is melting, add the bananas to a blender and blend until smooth. Alternatively, you can mash the bananas in a bowl with a fork.
- Combine. Pour the mashed bananas, oil, and melted chocolate over the dry ingredients and mix using a wooden spoon until combined. Stop mixing as soon as everything is incorporated.
Bake
- Line a baking pan. Line an 8×4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Transfer the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf ban and spread it into an even layer. At this point, you can top it with dark chocolate chips.
- Bake. Finally, bake the bread for about 45 minutes in a 350°F (175°C) preheated oven until golden brown.
❄️ Freezing
You can freeze this chocolate banana bread for up to 2 months. Slice it into thick slices and wrap each one in plastic wrap. To thaw, let it rest on the counter for about 2 hours.
📔 Tips
- Use ripe and good-quality bananas. For optimal flavor and sweetness, make sure you are using ripe and spotty bananas.
- Use gram measurements. If you own a kitchen scale, I highly recommend weighing the bananas to ensure you use about 11.5 ounces (330g).
- Let cool completely before slicing. Straight from the oven, the bread will be very delicate. Let it cool for at least 2 hours before removing it from the pan and enjoying.
- Customize it to your liking. Feel free to stir nuts, chocolate chips, caramel sauce, or peanut butter in the batter for extra texture!
💬 FAQ
What is the best way to store chocolate banana bread?
You can store banana bread, covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Can I substitute melted butter for the oil?
I haven’t tried using melted butter yet, so I am unsure about this substitute.
Can I reduce the amount of oil?
I do not recommend reducing the amount of oil as it is what brings richness and softness to this bread.
Can I omit the melted dark chocolate?
If you don’t have dark chocolate on hand, you can simply omit it without changing the other ingredients’ ratio. Be aware, though, that your banana bread won’t be as chocolatey.
Can I bake the batter into muffins instead of bread?
Yes! Fill each muffin pan cavity to the ¾ and bake for 25-30 minutes.
I hope you will love this vegan chocolate banana bread as much as we do! It’s incredibly fudgy, chocolatey, and full of banana flavor!
Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread
Introducing the fudgiest vegan chocolate banana bread! This 10-ingredient bread is rich, soft, and perfectly moist. It's a real treat that your whole family will love! Enjoy for breakfast, as an afternoon pick-me-up, or as a decadent dessert!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 and 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3 large bananas
- 1/2 cup neutral oil
- 2 ounces dark chocolate
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips for topping
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line an 8×4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a mixing bowl. Whisk until combined.
- Melt the chocolate. Over a double-boiler, melt the dark chocolate chips or chocolate chunks. To make a double boiler: place a sauce pan on the stove and fill it with about ½ cup of water. Next, place an aluminum or heat-proof glass bowl on top of the saucepan. The bowl should not touch the water and just sit on the edges of the saucepan. Finally, heat the water to a simmer over low-medium heat.
- Mash the bananas. While the chocolate is melting, add the bananas to a blender and blend until smooth. Alternatively, you can mash the bananas in a bowl with a fork.
- Combine. Pour the mashed bananas, oil, and melted chocolate over the dry ingredients and mix using a wooden spoon until combined. Stop mixing as soon as everything is incorporated.
- Transfer the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf ban and spread it into an even layer. At this point, you can top it with dark chocolate chips if using.
- Bake. Finally, bake the bread for about 45 minutes. You can test the doneness by pricking the banana bread with a toothpick. If it comes out with a few crumbs, it's done.
Notes
- Use ripe and good-quality bananas. For optimal flavor and sweetness, make sure you are using ripe and spotty bananas.
- Use gram measurements. If you own a kitchen scale, I highly recommend weighing the bananas to ensure you use about 11.5 ounces (330g).
- Let cool completely before slicing. Straight from the oven, the bread will be very delicate. Let it cool for at least 2 hours before removing it from the pan and enjoying.
- Customize it to your liking. Feel free to stir nuts, chocolate chips, caramel sauce, or peanut butter in the batter for extra texture!
Nutrition
Serving: 1 slice | Calories: 353 kcal | Carbohydrates: 45.8 g | Protein: 4.1 g | Fat: 18.9 g | Saturated Fat: 4.2 g | Sodium: 37 mg | Potassium: 233 mg | Fiber: 3.8 g | Sugar: 23.4 g | Iron: 2 mg
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About the Author
Thomas Pagot is the founder, photographer, and recipe developer behind Full of Plants. He created the blog in 2016 as a personal cookbook for vegan recipes. Through years of recipe development, Thomas has successfully grown Full of Plants into a trusted resource for plant-based recipes.
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I’ll try it this weekend. It’s will be an excellent dessert for the whole family.
Hope you will like it Tommy!
Looks delicious! I’m wondering how much banana flavor comes through? Do you mainly taste just the chocolate, not sure I’d want too much banana flavor…..
Thanks Nancy! I tried to balance the chocolate and banana flavor, so while it mainly tastes chocolate, you can still taste the banana (although banana is not the main flavor).